Friday’s editorial is a slightly
updated version of the frustrations vented last week about the inept response
to the state’s hacking scandal.
Our focus for the past couple of
weeks has largely been on Tuesday’s election, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t
mention the other enormous story that’s hit our state: the unprecedented breach
of state tax data. The massive scandal exposed millions of taxpayers’
information to an unidentified foreign hacker, who authorities have little
chance of catching. But as frustrating and disturbing as the crime itself is,
the bungled response and unfortunate communication decisions by Gov. Nikki
Haley and others in charge have only exacerbated the issue and multiplied that
frustration.
Saturday’s editorial argues that S.C. lawmakers should heed
the recommendations of their tax-study commission.
Burnet Maybank, former director of
the S.C. Department of Revenue, likens the state's tax code to a giant
waterbed. Whenever lawmakers push down on one corner, he says, the pressure
just causes taxes to rise somewhere else.
Friends: Here's the link to the wonderful new website that shines a light (sometimes harsh) on the ever-evolving economic stimulus plan put forth by U.S. House Democrats. What we have here is a great example of the growing power of the web to shape national policy directly, in real time. dc
From the morning e-mail ... Now here is a thought-provoking piece on getting more educational bang from the bucks we spend on high schools:
Is Online High School The Right Choice For Your Child?
By Dr. Barbara Stoops
Thousands of parents and students in South Carolina have joined the growing movement to online education. Their reasons vary, but their goal is the same: to ensure the best possible education for each individual child. South Carolina is one of nearly 45 states that now offer significant online learning opportunities, according to research by the North American Council for Online Learning.
Ripped from the wires ... Today's editorial worries that the state commission charged with creating a state-of-the-art statewide wireless broadband system could miss a Jan. 21 action deadline:
Is the so-called S.C. Educational Broadband Commission really a strategy to thwart the creation of a statewide wireless super-broadband system? There's reason to worry it might be.
By Jan. 21, the state must take Step No. 1 toward converting several dozen S.C. Educational Television licenses into a privately managed statewide broadband internet system. But the commission, impaneled earlier this year to manage the transition, seems oblivious to the deadline.
Ripped from the wires ... From a Princeton web scholar comes this update on the growing influence of the internet on political campaigns:
By Danielle Allen
Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported an important effect of the 2008 presidential campaign: For the first time, traffic at left-leaning political Web sites overtook traffic at right-leaning competitors. The Drudge Report and Free Republic had the largest number of unique visitors in September 2007, but in September 2008, that honor went to the Huffington Post.
Ripped from the wires ... A Washington environmental lawyer lays out one way to "solve" American's information-overload problem:
By Dusty Horwitt
Everybody jokes about "TMI'' these days: "Too much information,'' we say laughingly, when someone tells a story full of embarrassing detail about some personal foible or intimate relationship. But in our information-overloaded society, the concept of TMI is no joke. The information avalanche coming from all sides -- the Internet, PDAs, hundreds of television channels -- is burying us in extraneous data that prevent important facts and knowledge from reaching a broad audience. ...
From the morning e-mail ... McCain campaign manager Rick Davis announces a new online campaign initiative:
Today we're launching a new feature called McCain Nation and we want you to be the first to know. McCain Nation is a powerful online tool, built exclusively for our supporters across the country to plan events to help spread John McCain's message.
Ripped from the wires ... Leonard Pitts wonders whether prolonged exposure to the Internet is rewiring our brains in a way that frustrates reading:
By Leonard Pitts Jr.
I had thought it was just me.
In reading the cover story in the new issue of The Atlantic, however, I have learned that I am not alone. There are at least two of us who have forgotten how to read.
I do not mean that I have lost the ability to decode letters into words. I mean, rather, that I am finding it increasingly difficult to read deeply, to muster the focus and concentration necessary to wrestle any text longer than a paragraph or more intellectually demanding than a TV listing.
Ripped from the wires ... Here's a short piece from Florida writer Eric Deggans explaining the true nature of media bias:
By ERIC DEGGANS
As everyone from Katie Couric to Bill O'Reilly debates whether the press was too easy on the President before war in Iraq thanks Scott McClellan I'm thinking they've missed the point.
Of course news outlets are biased. But not in the political way some imagine. Here are the real biases that drive mainstream news reporting, beyond the obvious one: profits.
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